Border patrol agent killed by fellow agents in Arizona firefight

WASHINGTON -
The FBI has determined that the fatal shooting of a U.S. border patrol agent and the wounding of another was a case of friendly fire.

An official said ballistics determined the three agents exchanged gunfire Tuesday in the mistaken belief that each was being fired on by a hostile gunman. Agent Nicholas Ivie was killed in the gunfight. The shooting occurred about 5 miles from Bisbee, Ariz., as the agents responded to an alarm from a border sensor, indicating movement on the ground.

The area is known as a drug corridor.

A source close to the investigation told The (Phoenix) Republic newspaper that investigators did not find any evidence of illegal border crossers in the area and described what happened as the "perfect storm." The agents lost radio contact, Ivie got spooked and started to shoot, the source told the newspaper. The other agent shot back and those bullets killed Ivie.

Border Patrol officials held a brief news conference Friday evening to make a statement confirming the friendly fire reports.

Ivie was a 30-year-old father of two. He had been a border patrol agent for four years.

A second agent was shot in the ankle and buttocks and released from the hospital, after undergoing surgery. The third agent wasn't injured.

Ivie's death marked the first fatal shooting of an agent since a deadly firefight with Mexican bandits that killed U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in 2010 and spawned congressional probes of a botched government gun-smuggling investigation.

Twenty-six border agents have died in the line of duty since 2002.

Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.